An Uneasy Cycle
by Alma Moon
Summary: Dark Moon Writing Challenge Entry- Will the power of love prevail? This fic switches perspectives among the girls and one new guy.
1. Serena's Doubts

Disclaimer: I do not own this. This is a fanfic. Emphasis on fan. Clear?

Author's Note: This is an entry for the Dark Moon Writing challenge. It's rated PG-13 for language, brief violence, and a few scenes of sensuality. The story takes place over a period of 28 days- a moon cycle. Enjoy!

Chapter 1- Serena's Doubts

"Nothing good on," Catty drawled over the cacophony of Vanessa and Jimena brutally beating each other with pillows.

"Oooo! Full moon tonight! Let's go outside and dance!" squealed a red-cheeked Vanessa. There were simultaneous moans of "nooooooo" from Serena and Catty but Jimena untied her hair and jumped enthusiastically.

"Sí! We can be bruja goddesses!" she whooped. Catty rolled her eyes at Serena yet shrugged and turned off the TV. Serena tried to get more comfortable on her couch with her graying raccoon on her chest. The other three girls were going out the door.

"C'mon Serena, girl! What's wrong?" Jimena managed to coo.

"Trying to figure out if evil is as evil as we say it is. I mean every human has a little bit of evil in them, right?"

"If you're talking about Stanton and the Atrox, don't. There is no way around that sort of evil, girl."

"Stanton's not evil. I mean if he is those Barbie commercials are. Please!"

"Barbie commercials can't get inside your brain and control your thoughts- mind reader babe. On second thought, maybe they can!" They both laughed at this. Jimena sighed, "Talk to Maggie about it, ok?" 

"Alright, I guess," Serena muttered, but she knew that despite Maggie's good intentions she was just going to try to convince her not to wonder about the extent of the Atrox's evil. Apparently it was limitless and more ancient than the undead. Of course. That was why we needed hope, right? But just maybe...

Author's Note(AN): That's the end of the first chapter. Very short, I know. Please review!


	2. Vanessa's Visitor

Chapter Two- Vanessa's Visitor

Serena played with the fingers on Jimena's right hand as they crossed the busy LA street over to Maggie's apartment building. Serena imagined Maggie's kind and patient face, silver hair, and the aura about her that was both young and old. She sighed.

"You know, Maggie's not gonna condescend you or try to silence you or anything, she's for real," Jimena assured her best friend.

"I know." That was when Serena saw a flash of red across the street. It was a girl with fire blossom hair, wild eyes, and jittery feet. Every inch of her seemed completely alive.

"She's in front of Maggie's apartment building. I wonder who she is. Serena?" Serena knew Jimena wasn't asking for her opinion. So she swam into the girl's thoughts.

_I have to...find Vanessa...o jeez! So little time! Not enough time! She said she would meet me here. The Atrox. Eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! _It was a wail like Serena had never heard or felt before. The girl was in tremendous emotional pain. And the Atrox! She mentioned the Atrox.

"She's loo-looking for Vanessa," Serena stammered, "and she knows about the Atrox. She's afraid." She began to pull away from Jimena's grasp.

"No! What if she belongs to the Atrox? She could be bound to do evil things!" Jimena whined for the first time.

"I don't care, I could feel her, she needs Vanessa's help, she isn't going to hurt her. Plus, if Vanessa helps her she won't be _able _to hurt her." It was a well-known fact that members of the Atrox couldn't hurt a goddess who had done them a kindness. Vanessa had already had this experience with Stanton. 

"I don't have a good feeling about this..."

"Don't try to scare me with your premonitions!" Serena yelled back. She was beginning to not feel like herself anymore.


	3. Noona's New Place

Chapter Three- Noona's New Place

She was going to be staying with Vanessa until further notice. Good, good. It had only been one moon cycle since she had discovered she was a daughter of the moon but still the slowly waning moon made the hairs on her neck rise. 

Noona rubbed her hands together even though it was warm. She was used to the frosty winds of the Swiss Alps and Los Angeles was so different. America was different. She trudged through the moonlit park. She was used to trudging too, though a strange part of her wanted to skip. She stopped. There he was, huddled beneath a tree.

"I knew you'd find me!" He called. 

"Shhhhhhh! Not so loud!" she answered in French, "no one can know that I know you. You hold the box."

"Don't I know it!" he complied and spoke in French as well, retrieving a rough purple box from his knapsack. Pandora's box. Well-known legend. Unknown reality. It had been passed down over the ages in his family. They had been all over Europe. She knelt down and kissed it and then stuffed it in his bag again.

"Don't be a little fuck," she almost laughed, "it's dangerous." His green eyes danced joyfully- he was never put out. He grabbed the back of her neck where the little strawberry-gold hairs had risen and kissed her mouth, sending in his tongue as well. It wasn't aggressive, he was never aggressive, just lively. Noona played with Louis's greeny-brown hair and then pulled away. He was the only outsider that knew about her. How she could sense people both living and dead in any place, knew what events had taken place on what ground. Was he really an outsider though? He held Pandora's box after all. She knew the other daughters' loved ones knew very little about their powers and purposes. Though she acted put-out with Louis sometimes, she needed him. The daughters had each other, and had been assembled here in LA for quite some time. _She_ felt like the outsider. 

Noona was always waiting for something. A chance...danger...And in less than 28 days the new moon would be upon them. 


	4. Catty's Conscience

Chapter Four- Catty's Conscience

The three-quarter moon flashed yellowly in the smog-frosted sky. Inside, the four were in deep discussion. Well, as deep as it gets when you're sixteen and nail polish is involved.

"Where is she now?" Serena probed Vanessa.

"At my house, helping my mom."

"I don't know," Jimena shook her head, "her history...what you said she does...that sounds like black magic to me."

"Jimena _where_ is your sense of adventure? It's usually near at hand," Catty teased.

"And there is no black and white! We're goddesses not witches," Vanessa piped up. Jimena grumbled, "Same difference sometimes, chicas."

"Plus," Catty added, "if you looked at it that way, then what I do would be black magic."

"Why?"

"I usually do it to meet _my_ needs. On a whim- it's fun. But it's not always to help others and I guess that's manipulating the system."

"But it's gotten us out of a lot of snags, girl," Jimena smiled. Vanessa rolled her eyes, "And caused nausea."

Catty could see she was getting somewhere whether Jimena knew it or not, what was with her lately? "Exactly and I bet Noona will be able to help us too!" she concluded. 

"You guys wanna stay over here tonight?" Serena asked, putting away her tarot cards that she had simply looked through. They all nodded and proceeded in calling their mothers. Catty thought that it was interesting that they all had unique parent-child relationships with women and not with men. Maybe if had been meant to be the other way around they would have been the daughters of the sun. Were there sons of the sun? No way, too corny, the gods are smarter than that she thought, and giggled to herself.

Catty glanced over at Jimena who had just hung up the phone from calling her grandmother. She looked ready to fall asleep already.


	5. Jimena's Fear

Chapter Five- Jimena's Fear

Jimena started awake and looked at the digital clock by Serena's bed: 3:01 AM. She soon realized she was shaking. She had had a premonition. Dancing purple flowers. Dancing purple flowers?! Everything seemed so twisted. But they were there. Lightning and knives. And...blood. Crimson, crimson blood. It was Serena's blood. And Serena's blood flowing felt like _her_ fault. This scared her. Serena was her best friend and she never been able to disprove her premonitions.

She raced down the stairs and called Vanessa's house. She hoped that Noona was the night creature she believed her to be.

"Talk to me."

"Jimena. A daughter of the moon. You saw me across the street a few days ago."

"Oh, oui. Can I help you?" Noona was oddly composed, but Jimena didn't know her well enough to tell.

"What is in your possession that is purple?"

"Pardon?"

"Purple, violeta, color of peace...royalty. What is purple about you or your past."

"Um..." Noona could feel what Jimena was talking about but hesitated to mentioned Pandora's Box. Louis was so innocent and she didn't want to get him to involved. He would kick her for thinking that, though. He didn't tiptoe around anything. She had heard about Jimena's powers, however, and Noona knew that she or Serena would get it out of her somehow.

"Pandora's Box. The Atrox, hope. You know of this?"

"Of course!"

"It's the most amazing purple you've ever seen," Noona admitted.

"That _has_ to be it! It seems so freaking significant!" Jimena exclaimed, forgetting she was in a private house. "Thank you," Jimena said and hung up.

"Whatcha doing?" Serena asked sleepily if not suspiciously with her eyes merely slits.

"I'm going to go over to Vanessa's."

"Oh you trust Noona now?"

"We need her. I had a premonition."

"Well what was it?" at this Serena was immediately awake.

"I think it was you being mortally or fatally wounded, bèbe."

"Oh my god." Serena looked at the floor, thinking the same thing Jimena had been. She bit her lip.

"Be nice to her. We want me healthy now don't we?" she tried to smile, "you didn't think it was Noona's doing did you?"

"No. I think it was mine." With that she flew out the door.


	6. Louis's Loyalty

Chapter Six- Louis's Loyalty

"Repeat this for me one more time."

Noona looked flushed and she was pacing back and forth, "Jimena and I...have figured out a spell/ritual thingy that could reverse the intensity of the Atrox's power.

"But I thought you don't understand the power of the Atrox yet!" Louis exclaimed.

"We...don't...Vanessa and Catty and Maggie are working on that. Reading Latin...stuff. " Louis sighed but looked lovingly at Noona with her red hair that was matted with stress-sweat and hanging limply like ribbons too long after Valentine's Day. Her eyes were juicy and alive like dark blue grapes.

"You need me to lend you the box. Do you know how to wield it? I don't even know if you _wield_ a box. But...I trust you. I love you."

"I love you too. Thank you!" She nipped his nose and stroked the box as she lifted it out of its velvet wrapping. She skipped out of the hotel with Pandora's legend clutched at her breast.

Tonight was half-moon. Time was passing. Though kindly Louis was not as conscientious about the cycle as Noona, he could feel the dark of the moon getting nearer. It was going to be even more dangerous now- because he loved her.


	7. A Stab in the Dark

Chapter 7- A Stab in the Dark

Ugghhhhh. Cassandra. Vanessa allowed the molecules of her body to drift apart and soon she was invisible to Cassandra the Atrox Follower's menacingly hollow eyes. She raced past her on the wind and into an alleyway near a used bookstore Maggie had recommended. There she materialized, turned, and stepped inside.

The little shop was like an old book of wonder itself. It was all red and brown and a faded golden and she smiled at the owner gratefully for the beauty of the store. Vanessa was hoping to find an ancient texts section if she had any way of helping Noona and Jimena with their crazy idea. And it was _crazy_. It was odd, ever since Noona had arrived, it had brought out other sides in people. Jimena was still ambitious, but panicky and paranoid as well. And Maggie would never normally have agreed to go at the Atrox like this, but she seemed to believe that Noona truly had a heart of gold.

Vanessa decided that _Myths_ was her best bet to begin her search. She scanned the rows "Gee, gee, geeeeeeee....ah!". She covered her mouth, she hoped she hadn't been too loud as she proceeded in pulling out all the books on Greek myths and compilations of essays about their meaning that she saw. One book was a deep, twilight purple and it was this that caught her eye.

It had been a few hours and Vanessa had skimmed every book except the purple one. She felt very scholarly...which was odd. On intuition she decided to buy the evening-sky bound book and not peruse it until she reached Maggie's. The owner smiled at her again and this time when she went out she checked the end of the alleyway to make sure it led somewhere- otherwise, Cassandra might get suspicious as to where she had disappeared to. It appeared to be a short-cut, or a long-cut as the case may be to somewhere. She sighed gratefully and went invisible, making sure the book disappeared from sight as well.

Tonight was a sickle moon like her necklace she had had for as long as she could remember. All the daughters referred to their necklaces as crescents but the waning of the moon and the nearing of the dread moon gave everything more of a "sickle" feeling. Vanessa hoped that they all had hearts of gold to match the incredible evil that was the Atrox.


	8. The Legend's Power

Chapter 8- The Dark Moon Cometh

_Once, very long ago, there was a girl. A very foolish girl. A girl who opened a can of worms. Except, it was a box and they weren't worms. They were much worse. They were human conditions: gluttony, greed, envy, jealousy, rage...the worst of all however lurked in the sidelines and watched everything else take over. It was called the Atrox, and soon became the most horrible underground force known to mankind._

The thing about the Atrox was that it depended on humanity's thirst for power and reign over others. It represented the ugliest and yet most common aspect of the human condition. That was why hope was sent to help mankind. It was sent by the moon goddess Selene. And that is why the Atrox is least powerful during a full moon and most powerful during the new moon. 

Those pure of heart and clear of mind and strong of soul can defeat the Atrox. The Atrox does not expect those traits in humans. Those who are not swayed in their ideals and beliefs will know when the time is right to take action.

This was some of what Vanessa found when she read the text inside the purple book. Serena and Catty were over, and Serena felt that their beliefs were swaying, but the other daughters did not, so the plan for that night, the dark of the moon, were still on. Noona was meeting them in that alleyway by the bookstore, and they had told their parents they were going to Planet Bang.


End file.
